Tired of Banking on Social Security COLAs? Here's What to Do Instead

What stands out here is There's a reason Social Security benefits are eligible for an automatic cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, each year

Additionally, The purpose of COLAs is to help ensure that Social Security recipients are able to keep up with their expenses over time as inflation makes the cost of living increase

On the other hand, But all told, the general consensus is that next year's Social Security raise may not be much to write, in today's market environment

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Conversely, If you're someone who's heavily dependent on Social Security -- and Social Security COLAs -- to make ends meet, the weeks leading up to those COLA announcements can be stressful

The reality, though, is that having to bank on Social Security COLAs to keep up with your bills is not a great way to

Nevertheless, If that's the situation you're in, it could pay to do the ing, considering recent developments

Review your spending carefully If you get most or all of your retirement income from Social Security, then there's a good chance you a pretty frugal lifestyle already

Additionally, Nevertheless, But that doesn't mean there isn't room to make further cuts

One thing it pays to do is actually go over all of your expenses and figure out if they're all really necessary

When you're in a place where your Social Security COLAs make a difference, small changes these make a difference, too

Consider a part-time job The whole point of retirement is to not work, so the idea of having a job may seem unappealing

But if you don't have health issues stopping you from getting a job, you may want to seek out part-time work

Additionally, Even if you decide to join the gig economy and work just a few hours a week, it could make a difference in your financial picture

Additionally, Make strategic lifestyle choices There are some parts of the country where Social Security benefits can go a lot further

Think where you and consider whether there's a less expensive area you can relocate to

You bably don't want to pack up and move to a less expensive state to money if you don't know a soul there and won't have a support network

But if your sibling s in a more affordable state than you do, it may not be unreasonable to consider a move

Along these lines, downsizing to a smaller could make sense, especially if you own yours and are sitting on a lot of equity, given current economic conditions

It's not a comfortable thing to have to bank on a Social Security COLA each year just to be able to pay your basic bills

On the other hand, If that's the situation you've landed in, see if there's room to reduce your spending, earn some money, or make a lifestyle change that leads to lower living costs

You may find that not having to rely as much on Social Security raises each year reduces a lot of your stress

The Author Maurie Backman is a contributing Retirement and Social Security Expert at The Motley Fool

Nevertheless, Maurie has more than a decade of experience writing financial topics, including retirement, Social Security, and personal finance

Prior to The Motley Fool, she worked in the finance industry, focusing on bankrupt and distressed companies (noteworthy indeed)

She also briefly worked as a toy designer and spent several years at a marketing company

She studied creative writing and finance at Binghamton University

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